Bohemian Pilsner Malt

[louiscowdroy]

Good evening mate,
Ive just brought plain Lager Malt. Thinking of using Munich Malt and Torrified Wheat Malt - Maybe 90% then 5% and 5%.........think that'll be ok?

Louis

Just a couple of suggestions for you if you have not already come up with these. First of all, since the beer you are making is primarily pils malt with just minor specialty malts I would use good quality German malts since that is where the flavor is coming from. Over here, we have domestic pils malt but it is not as good as the high quality continental stuff and I would not just assume you could swap it out without affecting the taste. Secondly, your water is going to make a big difference, especially if you choose to use under-modified grains. Specificly, if you have hard/alkaline water it will affect both the taste of the beer, the character of the hops and in the case especially of under-modified malt the mash itself. Consider cutting your water with distilled water if it's hard and you will need to drop the ph of the sparge water, especially when fly sparging (one of the reason I batch sparge but that is another story). I have moderately hard water and I personally like to use that buffer stuff but there are other ways to achieve the same goal. Anyway have fun and good luck.

[alix101]

you will be fine with lagar malt.soft water will help! Do you know what your water is like.....infact just brew it and and find out.

[Barley Water]

Having hard water causes two main problems when making ligher beers. First of all, the ph in the mash will be too high which will cause you to get lousey extraction. Also, when you fly sparge the ph of the grist is always rising so it's really easy to extract tanins expecially if things get too hot or you oversparge. The other problem with water high in minerals is that it affects the way the bitterness is preceived; it can cause the hops to come off as harsh and sharp (sometimes that's good, sometimes not). At the end of the day of course you just need to give it a try and brew the beer. Personally, I like to try and stack things in favor of sucess however since brewing a batch of beer is a fair amount of work (although fun) and let's face it; life is too short to drink bad beer no matter who made it.

[louiscowdroy]

I think my friend Matt said its not hard but not soft. The only thing he said about our water, i think he sent away to get tested; was that if i was brewing a dark beer i would have to think about stabilizing it......but for ales and lagers he said it was fine and that we were quite lucky in this part of the country......

I'm brewing it now........bit nervous because of the Temp thing........step mashing........my Beer Engine suggest 11.8 trs for mashing, do you think i should make it a bit thinner???....i dont know why i'm asking you this at 0545hrs....like your going to be up ready to answer...Hahahahaha.....well i'll make it thinner.....

Going to try what you suggested and maybe 5 litres at 40, leave for 40 mins, then raise the temp to 50, then to 65.....god only knows if i can achieve that, but we'll see.....lol Hahahaha, this is going to be funny.....

I'll try and let you know what state i get in......

Louis ))))))))))))))

you will be fine with lagar malt.soft water will help! Do you know what your water is like.....infact just brew it and and find out.

[louiscowdroy]

Nice to meet you by the way, i'm Louis from Harrogate, North Yorkshire in England. I've only been All Grain brewing since May this year having completed 25 kits......really enjoying it!!

The only thing that gets to me is all the water thing....lol. I would love to just find a magic potion that you could add to any mash that would get you a totally nutral mash......is there such a thing???

I'm heating my water now as we speak; i need to get my mash tun out and put the grain manifoild together and boil a kettle to rinse through and heat it up..........

I'm thinking of a 2 infusion steeped mash over maybe 90 mins??? What do you think......

Louis ))))

Having hard water causes two main problems when making ligher beers. First of all, the ph in the mash will be too high which will cause you to get lousey extraction. Also, when you fly sparge the ph of the grist is always rising so it's really easy to extract tanins expecially if things get too hot or you oversparge. The other problem with water high in minerals is that it affects the way the bitterness is preceived; it can cause the hops to come off as harsh and sharp (sometimes that's good, sometimes not). At the end of the day of course you just need to give it a try and brew the beer. Personally, I like to try and stack things in favor of sucess however since brewing a batch of beer is a fair amount of work (although fun) and let's face it; life is too short to drink bad beer no matter who made it.

[louiscowdroy]

Well, it done!!

I had a nightmare with the Steeping of the Mash in stages......but i managed to get through it. My Mash tun is the small custom made blue cooler.....I was trying to follow Alix's recipe.......had the Mash tun right to the top, couldnt get the lid on had to foil it and wait 10 mins.

Well, its in the fridge now being brought down to 17 degree's as you suggested Alix. I hope this ferments well.

Could i ask; when would i drop the temp to the low temp you mentioned, was it 7 degrees??

Thanks for all your help mate........

Louis )))